Groundwater influence on soil moisture memory and land–atmosphere fluxes in the Iberian Peninsula

Martínez-de la Torre, Alberto; Miguez-Macho, Gonzalo

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-23-4909-2019

Articles | Volume 23, issue 12

https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-23-4909-2019

© Author(s) 2019. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Special issue:

Hydrological cycle in the Mediterranean (ACP/AMT/GMD/HESS/NHESS/OS...

https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-23-4909-2019

© Author(s) 2019. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 23, issue 12

Research article

|

02 Dec 2019

Research article |

| 02 Dec 2019

Groundwater influence on soil moisture memory and land–atmosphere fluxes in the Iberian Peninsula

Alberto Martínez-de la Torre and Gonzalo Miguez-Macho

Data sets

The ERA-Interim archive Version 2.0 P. Berrisford, D. Dee, P. Poli, R. Brugge, M. Fielding, M. Fuentes, P. Kållberg, S. Kobayashi, S. Uppala, and A. Simmons https://www.ecmwf.int/node/8174

Short summary

Over semi-arid regions, it is essential to have a correct representation of the groundwater processes in climate modelling. We present a land surface and groundwater model that incorporates groundwater–soil interactions, groundwater–rivers flow and lateral transport at the subsurface. We study the groundwater influence on soil moisture distribution and memory, and on evapotranspiration in the Iberian Peninsula. Shallow water table regions persist and provide water to the surface during droughts.